Govt approves Rs 3,000 cr vaccine financial grant to SII; Rs 1,500 cr to Bharat Biotech
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New Delhi, April 20: The Nirmala Sitharaman-led Finance Ministry has approved the financial grant to vaccine manufacturing companies Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech (BBL) to boost vaccine production. The goverment has granted the advance payment of Rs 4,567.50 crores to the SII and BBL.
According to the news agency, of these 4,567.50 crores, the ministry has approved Rs 3,000 crores to the SSI while, Bharat Biotech will get the ₹1567.50 crores to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production. Pune-based SII is manufacturing the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Covishield whereas Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is producing Indian Covaxin.
It should be noted that centre has already provided a grant of Rs 65 crores to COVAXIN manufacturer - Bharat Biotech to enhance their production capacity at their new Bengaluru plant.
This decision has come after SII CEO Adar Poonawalla had urged the govt for a Rs 3,000 crore grant for ramping up the capacity of the COVID-19 vaccine beyond 100 million doses a month. The company will also manufacture the Novavax vaccine in India.
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Besides this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to meet India’s largest drugmakers today. In this meeting, PM Modi will discuss modalities for the vaccination drive after the government brought everyone above 18 years of age under the ambit of the vaccination drive.
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